The origin of the Janssen strain.

Without question the number 1 racing pigeon strain in the world is the strain developed by the Janssen Brothers from Arendonk, Belgium. It is a unique inbred family of pigeons that helped shape the pigeon sport, worldwide, after the second world war. "De mannekes" (the men- a term of endearment) from Arendonk, after several years demonstrated their absolute dominance in their breeding ability. It was a closely guarded secret, that anyone who could get hold of pigeons from De Schoolstraat within a short time joined the realm of champions, simply because "the Janssen pigeon", was of such a high quality, that they revolutionized the racing pigeon sport.The Janssen Brothers became world famous, above all, through the performances obtained with their fantastic pigeons by the thousands of fanciers in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany etc. Their family friend, Jos de Klak became famous not only in the Netherlands, but worldwide with their pigeons and a number of other fanciers found that the pigeons they acquired from the brothers, were a gold mine. Descendants of the "OudeStier", "De Merckx", "De 019", "De Bange" : without exception, were gold in your hands. This showed that the Janssen Brothers had made breeding an art form. They had bred a glorious family of pigeons, a gift to the pigeon sport. After several setbacks, the last of the pigeon from De Schoolstraat were dispersed in April of 2012 through a sale on PIPA. It was the end of a legend, which beyond doubt still lives on the lofts of Hans and Evert-Jan Eijerkamp.

Evert-Jan, Hans and Martin Eijerkamp visiting the Janssen Bros.Sadly Martin Eijerkamp passed away at a young age, as the result of an accident.

Hans Eijerkamp and Louis Janssen

Evert-Jan Eijerkamp showing Louis Janssen how well the descendants of the Janssen pigeons are performingat the Eijerkamp lofts.